A vibrant community depends on the powerful input of youth, adults, and elders sharing their experiences to address current and future needs and concerns. Building that multigenerational narrative among the LGBT community will be the topic of a March 29 talk by Chris Bartlett, executive director of the William Way Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center in Philadelphia.

The program at 6:30 p.m., in Litrenta Lecture Hall in the John S. Toll Science Center, is free and open to the public.

Bartlett’s talk will highlight successful examples of multigenerational organizing including rituals (the Gay Bar Mitzvah); on-line organizing (the Gay History Wiki); and intergenerational arts (the ballroom scene) that borrow from the lessons of Jewish, African American, Latino, and other communities. The event will conclude with an exchange of ideas among participants on how to better engage with their own queer generation and others, while working together to enhance the LGBT community.

An innovative thinker and leader in LGBT organizing for over 25 years, Bartlett led the SafeGuards Gay Men’s Health Project, the LGBT Community Assessment, and the national LGBT Leadership Initiative. He is co-chair of the board of CenterLink, the international organization of LGBT community centers. He served as host of TEDxPhilly in 2010 and 2011, and was a speaker in 2014, on the topic of LGBT community development.

This program is cosponsored by Washington College’s C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, Rose O’Neill Literary House, the Program for Gender Studies, E.R.O.S. ALLiance Club (Encouraging Respect Of Sexuality), TaNGO (Trans and Nonconforming Gender Organization) and Pride: LGBT Alumni and Allies.